Wednesday 19 December 2007 à 15:03
Crossing the 50th parallel: good weather helps with positioning scientific instruments
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
That’s it: we’ve crossed the latitude line 50° South, called the “Furious Fifties,” because the weather in these regions can be terrible! You usually expect the worst because this is where oceanic and atmospheric currents of the temperate and polar zones meet. Paradoxically, today we’re enjoying the steadiest of the ship’s movements: the captain is pleasantly surprised by the good weather overhead. “Touch wood,” is what we hear on the bridge!
Wednesday 19 December 2007 à 14:00
Position of Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
FROM: Martin Riddle
DATE: 19/12/07
REPORT (SITREP) NO.: 303
UNIVERSAL TIME: 0300
LOCAL (SHIP) TIME: 1400
AUSTRALIAN EASTERN STANDARD TIME: 1400
POSITION: -53 45, 141 50
HEADING: 286
CURRENT SPEED (KNOTS): 1.2
DISTANCE TO NEXT WAYPOINT (NAUTICAL MILES): 736
DISTANCE COVERED LAST 24 HOURS (NAUTICAL MILES): 333
WEATHER CONDITIONS: overcast, moderate visibility, wind 8 kts from 340T
AIR TEMPERATURE: 6.0
SEA TEMPERATURE: 5.3
SEA CONDITIONS: 2 m W swell
ICE CONDITIONS: nil
REMARKS: Awoke to foggy conditions that would have made a mooring recovery
difficult, fortunately the fog cleared by the time we arrived at the SAZC
mooring. The mooring was released successfully, reaching the surface by
about 11:00 and all buoys, lines and instruments were on the deck a little
after mid-day. Samples from the mooring are now being processed. We then
moved about 3 Nm and have pressure tested equipment to 1000m on the CTD,
collected some water samples and are currently deploying the 2nd acoustic
mooring for the cetacean monitoring. When that is completed we will commence
the 740 Nm transit to the main CEAMARC sampling area on the continental
shelf between Dumont D'Urville and the Mertz Glacier.
Regards, Martin and Sarah.
Wednesday 19 December 2007 à 12:30
Data for the Aurora Australis at 12h30 (= 1h30 UT)
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
Position :
- latitude: 53,4°S
- longitude: 141,5° E
Wind:
- direction: N-NW
- speed: 9 knots
Water temperature: 5,3°C
Air temperature: 6°C
Water depth: 2940 meters
Sunrise: 4h57 (17h57 UT)
Sunset: 22h02 (11h02UT)
